No iPhone confession for Catholics

Technology is leading us to the mindset that our smart phones can do anything. “There’s an app for that,” right?

Wrong, according to the Vatican. A recently released app that allows Catholics to confess their sins via iPhone is invalid, a Vatican spokesperson said Wednesday.

Confession: A Roman Catholic App was created to be “perfect aid for every penitent,” according to its producers. The app guides believers through the Catholic sacrament of confession and even offers “a personalized examination of conscious for every user.”

But Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told AFP “It is essential to understand that the rites of penance require a personal dialogue between penitents and their confessor… Under no circumstance is it possible to ‘confess by iPhone.’”

With that in mind, it’s hardly appropriate that Confession’s Web site proclaims in large, bold letters that the app is “Catholic Church approved.”

Of course, Catholic authority hasn’t exactly been clear: a spokesperson from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales told BBC that the app was a useful tool and the church supports new technology.

But the Vatican has the final word, and it says no to digital confession if it’s used as anything more than an aid to Catholics before they confess. Perhaps an e-reader Bible will be enough to satisfy believers’ technological cravings.